Writer, blogger, troublemaker

#30Before30 item 9: learn to sew

I haven’t sewn much since school. I’ve put the odd button back on things when they’ve fallen off, but they’ve mostly fallen off again afterwards. It got to the point where I was paying a dry cleaning shop £1.50 per button to sew them back on properly. This is clearly ridiculous. Something had to be done.

I think sewing is a bit of a lost art. A big part of the motivation behind my 30 before 30 list is to help me help myself – ie acquire skills so I can fix and do minor things myself without always having to call in the professionals. And after paying silly money to have some dresses altered (yay, I’m thinner! Nay, now nothing fits!), I wanted to learn how to do it myself. So this one was an easy choice for the list.

Rather than just dicking around with a sewing machine and some YouTube, I decided to do things properly and go to a sewing class. Not just an hour or two, though: a full-on 5-hour sewing bootcamp at Saturday Sewing Session in Chelsea. It cost £85 and was worth every penny.

So what did I learn?

We ran through just about everything. Different kinds of fabrics and threads and what they’re used for, how a sewing machine works and how to thread one up, bobbins (aww), useful bits of equipment (we each got a free stitch-picker), how to hem jeans and trousers without getting rid of the original hem, how to patch holes, and how to alter clothes to fit.

I made a lavender bag:

Then altered my Los Pollos Hermanos t-shirt from an absolute tent to a perfectly-fitted tee – I didn’t take before and after photos but imagine something manatee-sized and then something me-sized.

I enjoyed Saturday Sewing Session more than I think I’ve ever enjoyed a 5-hour lesson before – look how happy I am!

The session left me dying to buy a sewing machine and Alter All The Things. But first, the rest of The List!